Assessment of mineral density of bone tissue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using ultrasonic osteometry

Abstract

Aim. To examine bone mineral density in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients using echoosteometry (EOM), to analyze the speed of ultrasound bone conduction in patients with different variants of RA. Material and methods. The study included 122 patients with verified RA diagnosis (ARA, 1987) who had not previously taken glucocorticosteroids, basic drugs or antiosteoporosis therapy. Group 1 consisted of 48 women of reproductive age, group 2 - of 46 postmenopausal women and group 3 of 28 male patients. EOM measured the speed of ultrasonic conduction in collar-bones and radii (Echoosteometer EOM-02). Results. The speed of ultrasound conduction in collar-bones and radii in RA patients is slower than control. This shows bone density loss. EOM demonstrated correlations between utrasound bone conduction and RA patients age, RA duration and x-ray stage of the disease.

Keywords

• rheumatoid arthritis
• bone tissue density
• echoosteometry